Fantasy football: It’s time to honor the season’s finest

We still have almost a month of football left before being forced to count down to spring training, but now — as the NFL playoffs start — it is my fantasy columnist duty to pay tribute to the regular season that was.

I will do that by handing out lofty All-Pro awards at every position, an honor that players clamor for more than a postgame buffet. So here they are, awarded in increasing levels of importance:

Kicker: Blair Walsh, Minnesota

To show how little the kicker position matters in our game, Walsh finished the season the top-ranked kicker in Yahoo leagues, but was owned in only 42 percent of those leagues.

Walsh went largely undrafted to start the year because if kickers matter little, rookie kickers matter less than Pauly Shore. The Vikings kicker’s status will change next season, however, as he led the league in total field goals (35) and field goals over 50 yards (10, with no one else having more than seven) while ranking fourth in field-goal percentage (92.1) among those with more than 10 attempts.

Defense: Chicago

It seems almost unfair that Lovie Smith got fired, doesn’t it?

Granted, a lot of these stats are weighted toward the beginning of the year when the Bears started 7-1, but the team still finished the season with the league lead in interceptions (24) and defensive touchdowns (10) while finishing second in fumble recoveries (20).

Overall, the defense may be ranked only fifth in the NFL, but it was clearly tops in these fantasy point-producing numbers.

Tight end: Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta

Nothing has changed this season — New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham and New England’s Rob Gronkowski are still clearly the top duo at this position.

Gronkowski would have won this award had he not sustained the broken forearm that caused him to miss five games. After all, he still led the position with 11 touchdowns. Graham also had a fine season, catching 85 passes for 982 yards and nine scores.

An owner had to pay to get those players, though, and Gonzalez was more a bargain value. Considering that he still provided a comparable 93 catches for 930 yards and eight touchdowns, the Falcon gets the nod here.

Quarterback: Peyton Manning, Denver

This was the most difficult position to choose. Many pundits harp upon the fact that this has become a quarterback’s league, and the list of Yahoo’s top fantasy players this season supports such a statement.

So, picking between so many top-level guys becomes difficult, and again injury came into play in my decision.

Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton were spectacular, but we expected that. Robert Griffin III was nearly as spectacular, but that late-season knee injury cost him some points.That injury also cost him this award, for although I would still dub him my Rookie of the Year, dealing with an injury just as the fantasy world came to its finale was too much for some owners to bear.

Manning, though, played a full season despite preseason worries about the neck injury that caused him to miss all of last season. He immediately returned to elite status, finishing sixth in passing yards (4,659) and third in touchdowns (37) to reward those who had the bravery to wait and draft him after the QB top tier went off the board.

Wide Receiver: Calvin Johnson, Detroit

Although value came into play with the last couple positions, Johnson was so great this season that I can overlook the fact that it would have taken a first-round pick to get him.

When a receiver is expected to be the best, then remains the best by leading the league in receptions (122) and leading NFL history in receiving yards (1,964), it’s impossible to ignore.

The Lions took a step backward as a team, and a part of that is finding Megatron in the end zone only five times (in comparison, Green Bay’s James Jones led the league by nearly tripling that number at 14). Johnson’s other numbers outweigh that enough, though, especially considering he ruled the fantasy playoffs by posting four straight games of double-digit receptions from Weeks 13-16.

Running Back: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota

This is the final honor, for A.P. is also my fantasy MVP of the year. That is a difficult position for someone who has been in the debate over top fantasy player for years to obtain, but considering the question mark hanging over him after finishing last season with a knee surgery, Peterson deserves it.

All the Vikings’ back did after fixing himself up with doctors and knives was miss Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105 rushing yards by less than a first down (2,097). That was more than 400 yards better than any other back in the league.

He also gave fantasy bonuses of two 200-yards games, finished the season with a 199-yard outing, and rushed for 12 TDs, including scoring in eight of his last 10 games.